Harapkan Pagar: People, speak up for the love of our King and Country

OUTSPOKEN: The Umno-Baru cyber troopers and their puppet masters, the senior Umno-Baru politicians, can try to intimidate me and other Malaysians like me. They can try to put pressure on the publications we write for. They will make personal and negative comments like, “She has turned against the government which helped her.” “What are her contributions to Malaysia?”

For each Mariam Mokhtar that Umno-Baru attempts to topple, another 10 Mariam Mokhtars will spring up. Widespread cheating in GE13 “returned” Datuk Seri Najib Razak to power. He feels emboldened because we failed to oust him and his party. We failed to kick Umno-Baru out because no one has devised a means to prevent the widespread cheating.

How can an ordinary member of the rakyat have a voice when the machinery of the state, like the police and the Election Commission, work hand-in-glove with Umno-Baru? To add insult to injury, Najib uses taxpayers’ money to conspire against the rakyat.

Umno-Baru’s modus operandi is to turn up the pressure and silence dissenters like me. Najib and senior Umno-Baru politicians are systematically targeting politicians, activists and pro-opposition NGOs and businesses. This is the start of the big push and it is just as ominous as Operation Lalang. The time has come for all Malaysians to unite and speak out against corruption, cronyism, nepotism and the lack of transparency.

I have been attacked for being critical of the government. Why should I criticise the opposition when it is the Umno-Baru government which dictates national policy and holds the purse-strings? The federal government prevents federal money from being spent in poorer states like Kelantan and other opposition- controlled areas. This is wrong!

Why should I criticise the opposition when it is alleged that senior Umno-Baru politicians are abusing several hundred millions of ringgit of taxpayers’ money? The money belongs to the rakyat.

When people find that I am willing to listen, should I turn them away? Should I nod in sympathetic agreement when the makcik in the kampung tells me that she does not feel safe, that her grandchildren often go hungry and her son cannot get a stable job? She does not want kind words. She wants action because the politicians who promised her help, disappear after their brief appearance, once every five years.

What should I do when the student whose practical experience, as part of her final year’s dissertation, was to pick up the lifeless bodies of drug addicts from the back streets of Kuala Lumpur? She was horrified that they are mostly Malay. Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi insinuated that the drug dealers were non-Malay and responsible for turning Malays into addicts. Zahid blames others but it is his government which has failed the rakyat. The student I spoke to alleges that most of the drug addicts are not down-and-outs but are professionals, like doctors and accountants.

Who can you turn to when a doctor in a maternity clinic laments that Malay girls have the most back street abortions and they are also responsible for the largest proportions of abandoned babies? These girls are not wild, western-educated types, who are influenced by what they see on television and social media. Why are we seeing a breakdown in morality despite the increased amount of religious education for the Malays?

We know that young people take drugs, but it is more shocking that many Malays have parents who are drug dealers, who openly sell joints, for as little as RM10 to members of their community. What happened to the parent as a role-model for family values and parenthood?
A friend, working in the immigration department, relates that there are many young Malay men trying their utmost to ensnare western men, so that they can live abroad in a “civil partnership”. What does that say about our Malay society?

Many civil servants have confided to me that they are disappointed with their superiors, who freely use departmental funds and time to carry out political activities. Our politicians are the ones who demoralise our civil servants.

Our politicians make our lives a misery, with their failed education system, the lack of an efficient public transport system, the poorly managed medical treatment, and the lack of affordable housing. We should not blame the politicians. We are the bigger culprits because we kept quiet and allowed the useless politicians to stay in power.

Our elders told us to “tahan” (endure) and not complain because direct confrontation is not a part of our culture. They said that sensitive issues should best be avoided. Having lived through the hardship of The Great Depression, World War Two and The Emergency, they were naturally conditioned by their painful experiences of poverty and starvation.

The elders wrongly believed that our politicians would slowly mend their ways and help the rakyat. On the contrary, our suffering increased and the decades of silence emboldened the Umno-Baru politicians. They did not help the rakyat. They only helped themselves.

Whilst Malaysia drowns in debt, Najib defends his wife, the self-styled “First Lady” of Malaysia (FLOM) and justifies her international travel on government aeroplanes. The image of a jet-setting FLOM, when the country is in the grip of an economic crisis, should enrage every patriotic member of the rakyat.

It is alleged that 90,000 graduates have been forced to take up jobs as petrol pump attendants or MacDonald workers. Whilst this waste of resources and training occurs, Najib does nothing to punish the spouses, sons and daughters of senior Umno-Baru politicians, civil servants and their cronies, whose failed projects cost the taxpayers billions of ringgit.

As responsible members of the rakyat, it is our duty to expose the alleged criminals who are betraying the nation. If you love your King and Country, you will end your silence and stop the corruption and injustice.